Albany lacks direction on opioid epidemic, Sen. Parker says

Oscar expands to Tennessee, reenters New Jersey

Health insurer Oscar will announce Wednesday its intention to sell plans in Tennessee and New Jersey in 2018 following its earlier commitment to partner with Cleveland Clinic on a health insurance product in five Ohio counties.

The company lost $204.9 million last year while operating in four states. But it's betting that the individual insurance market will be more stable next year, despite efforts by congressional Republicans to replace Obamacare's current system of subsidies and penalties.

"Why seek to expand in a time of uncertainty? We're confident that when the dust settles, the market for health insurance will stabilize in time for 2018, Mario Schlosser wrote in a blog post to be published Wednesday. "For all of the political noise, there are simply too many lives at stake for representatives in Washington, D.C. not to do what's right for the people."

If approved by regulators, Oscar will sell individual plans in nine Tennessee counties that include the city of Nashville. After halting sales to New Jersey customers in 2017, it will sell individual plans in 14 counties and small business products in much of the state.

The startup is also applying to add five Texas counties in the Austin and San Antonio areas and expand its southern California business to include east Los Angeles County.—J.L.

Schneiderman sues abortion protesters

State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman Tuesday sued a group of abortion protesters who regularly congregate outside Choices Women's Medical Center in Jamaica, Queens, for threatening patients and obstructing the entrance to the clinic. Their actions violate the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, the New York Clinic Access Act, New York Civil Rights Law and the New York City Access to Reproductive Health Care Facilities Act, according to the lawsuit filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of New York.

The 14 defendants include pastors and members of Brooklyn's Church at the Rock. Schneiderman alleged that they have shoved, threatened and verbally harassed visitors to the reproductive health center and the volunteers who wait outside to escort them in. They have also recorded staff members' license plates and announced where a staff member lived on at least one occasion, according to the complaint.

"Before the clinic even opened, I saw these people out in front with big signs with bloody fetal parts," said Mary Lou Greenberg, who coordinates the volunteer escorts at the clinic and said she was "body-slammed" by one of the protesters. "These are people who harass and try to shame women," she said.

There are typically from 10 to 40 protesters outside on any given Saturday, Greenberg said, adding that during the week they are fewer in number.

An administrative assistant answering the phone at the Church at the Rock Tuesday afternoon said the church was just finding out about the lawsuit and did not have a comment at the time.—C.L.

Union protests layoffs at Bronx nursing home

Health care workers at Beth Abraham Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing in the Bronx held an informational picket line Tuesday ahead of planned layoffs of about 65 workers.

In March Centers Health Care, a for-profit operator of more than 33 nursing homes in New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island, closed on its purchase of Beth Abraham from the nonprofit CenterLight Health System.

The nursing home planned to cut as many as 137 union jobs, including social workers, dietitians, housekeepers, nursing assistants, food-service workers and clerks, said Shaywaal Amin, a vice president in 1199 SEIU's nursing home division. Amin said about 65 workers will lose their jobs after other staff members found work in other departments or decided to retire.

"There's no way this facility can offer the best-quality care," Amin said of the lower staffing levels.

In a statement a spokesman for Centers Health Care said the "realignment of staff" was necessary to keep Beth Abraham open.

"We paid particular attention to our current level of occupied beds and our anticipated level to be sure that every shift on every day would be appropriately staffed," he said.

The spokesman pointed out that Medicare.gov gave Beth Abraham four stars overall but awarded it only one star for staffing. "Our goal is to change that," he said. The one-star rating reflects staffing hours for registered nurses and nursing assistants that are below state and national averages.

Amin said he expected Centers to add more per diem and part-time staff to replace the 1199 workers. —J.L.

AT A GLANCE

WHO'S NEWS: Sara Banks, a Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center volunteer, was elected to a one-year term as president of the Nassau-Suffolk Council of Hospital Auxiliaries.

SAFETY-NET BILL: The Assembly passed a bill (A. 7763/S. 5661-B) Tuesday defining enhanced safety-net hospitals and providing for the state health commissioner to adjust their Medicaid rates to preserve critical services. Gov. Andrew Cuomo vetoed a similar bill last year, but this year's budget included funds for safety-net and critical-access hospitals.

CANNABIS AND PTSD: The state Senate Tuesday passed a bill adding post traumatic stress disorder to the list of conditions eligible for treatment with medical marijuana. The measure, which already passed the state Assembly, now goes to Gov. Andrew Cuomo's desk for signature.

NIH GRANT: The New York Blood Center has received a $3.6 million grant over five years from the National Institutes of Health to create a vaccine to prevent river blindness. The new round of funding goes to Dr. Sara Lustigman, head of Laboratory of Molecular Parasitology at NYBC's Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute.

RAPE KITS: An op-ed by Brittany Bronson in The New York Times Tuesday highlighted a severe shortage in Las Vegas and elsewhere in the U.S. of nurses trained to administer rape-kit tests. The contributing opinion writer noted: "Alongside our embarrassing backlog of untested kits, our severe shortage of examiners is another example of how Las Vegas has remained complicit in the violence that occurs against women here."

MEDITATION BOOM: Since President Donald Trump's election, Headspace, an app to help people meditate, has seen its popularity grow. More people are trying to "find calm and clarity when they see so much chaos and confusion," founder Andy Puddicombe, a former monk, told Vox in an interview.

Albany lacks direction on opioid epidemic, Sen. Parker says

As the opioid epidemic shows no sign of slowing this year, state lawmakers have introduced dozens of bills proposing fixes that range from new insurance mandates to tougher criminal charges.

But it's unclear whether there is the same level of coordination that took place last year between Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the state Senate and the Assembly to pass a comprehensive legislative package to address the issue.

Last year, under pressure from Cuomo, lawmakers rushed to pass an omnibus opioid bill in the final hours of the legislative session. At Cuomo's State of the State address in January, he announced a six-point plan to build on that legislation.

But during this session there has been a lack of direction in the legislature's negotiations on opioid measures, Sen. Kevin Parker, a Brooklyn Democrat and a ranking member of the Senate's Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Committee, said Tuesday afternoon.

"Leadership finds agreement, and right now there's not enough leadership on the issue," said Parker. He was the lead sponsor this year on four bills related to substance-abuse prevention and treatment—none of which made it out of committee.

Meanwhile, Senate Republicans announced earlier this month that they had passed a package of 15 bills related to the opioid epidemic, which primarily focused on ramping up law enforcement. These included a bill (S. 2761) that would establish homicide as a charge for the sale of an opiate controlled substance.

However, tough-on-crime bills are unlikely to pass the Democrat-controlled Assembly.

"One crime at a time, they're attempting to reconstruct the Rockefeller drug laws," said Parker, whose older brother was addicted to heroin and died in prison. "I'm looking at ways we can engage the community so they know the dangers of these things before they get involved."

The Assembly is generally more focused on treatment and prevention than on law enforcement, said Stephanie Campbell, executive director of advocacy group Friends of Recovery-New York. However, there are bills she thinks lawmakers in both houses can agree on.

One of the biggest needs right now is for immediate outreach to people who have been revived from an overdose to get them into treatment, according to Campbell. A bill (A. 8384-A/S. 6509-A) that passed the Senate would expand the state's Peer Engagement program and require police and other first responders to coordinate with peers to get people into treatment.

Another bill (A. 8380/S. 5537), which received a memo of support from Friends of Recovery and was included in Cuomo's six-point plan, would create the state's first high school programs to help students recovering from a substance-use disorder to receive a diploma.—C.L.

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